“The committee will come to order!” the chairman called out as the sound of the banging gavel rang through the room. I was observing a legislative committee meeting in a hotly contested debate. Each person who spoke was passionate about his position. Soon people were beginning to talk overtop of each other, and I could not understand what anyone was saying. Then I saw the chairman reach for that gavel. He knew that without order, nothing was going to be accomplished. With his words, he called the meeting to order, and the discussions proceeded peacefully.
In meetings, on the job, in the classroom, at home—in all of life’s situations—order brings peace and paves the way for accomplishment. Order is a Biblical principle that anyone can operate and benefit from, yet believers have an added incentive to operate with godly order. Order in our lives opens doors for God to work.
God Himself is order. He is the originator of organization, which is clearly evidenced in the orderly arrangement of the physical universe. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. As believers, we want to imitate the ways of our heavenly Father, so let’s explore God’s means of establishing order. Then we’ll examine practical ways we can develop and maintain order in our mental and physical lives, resulting in greater peace and power in our lives.
God originated order. When God created the heavens and the earth, as recorded in Genesis 1:1, it was orderly, arranged, and prepared for habitation.
Isaiah 45:18:
For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.
The order and arrangement of the creation was to accomplish His purpose, which was for the earth to be inhabited. Within that orderly arrangement, God created angels who carried very specific responsibilities to maintain that order. One of those angels rebelled. Lucifer and one-third of the angels were cast out of heaven. They racked and ruined the first heaven and earth, and chaos resulted.
Genesis 1:2:
And the earth was [became] without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The phrase “without form, and void” means confused, empty, and chaotic. This is completely the opposite of God’s original intent. God’s creation was no longer arranged for His purpose. God’s response to this chaos follows in the Book of Genesis, chapter 1, as He set about to reframe, repair, and mend the disruption caused by Lucifer’s rebellion. The Book of Hebrews has a verse that describes the restoration process.
Hebrews 11:3:
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
God spoke order into being—by His words. The word “framed” here means “restored.” God returned His creation to a condition of order so that it could fulfill His purpose. He called light into being and divided the light from the darkness, establishing day and night. He set the framework of the heavens and earth. He set the order of animal and plant life, establishing a framework for their continuation and utilization. Out of chaos, God brought order by His Word. When life functions within the framework of God’s established order, there is an abundance of peace.
I Corinthians 14:33:
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
To be sure, there can be confusion in life, but we know from this verse that God does not initiate it. The Greek word for “confusion” used here in I Corinthians means disorder. Confusion is at cross-purposes with God. It is disharmony with His Word and His very nature. God initiates order, proper and right arrangement, which results in peace.
We want to build godly disciplines of order in our lives. Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be “followers [imitators] of God, as dear children.” We can imitate God’s orderliness by having our thoughts well arranged and our physical environment organized. We begin by lining up our thoughts with God’s thoughts. Thoughts are the seeds of our words and our deeds; therefore, we want them in alignment and harmony with God’s Word. This requires effort on our part. We are the ones to elevate our thoughts to the level of God’s Word.
Isaiah 55:9:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We train ourselves to elevate our thinking through the daily input of God’s Word, which reveals His thoughts to us. The more time we spend in God’s Word, the more our thoughts can reflect its beauty and order….
This is an excerpt from the September/October 2010 issue of The Way Magazine.
Copyright© 2010 by The Way International. All rights reserved.
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